Congratulations, University of Wyoming! You now have an official Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) chapter, thanks to campus activist Ocean Dylan Andrew — and a little help from the Advocates’ OPH (Operation Politically Homeless).

Ocean had wanted to start a campus YAL chapter for a long time. When a change in university policy allowed him to table for recruitment, he jumped into action.

“I decided the Operation Politically Homeless kit from The Advocates for Self-Government would be best for recruiting,” Ocean wrote at YAL’s home page.

(Ocean got his OPH kit FREE from the Advocates — as more than 1,000 student organizations have done. Learn more about this here.)

Things were a bit slow at the booth at first. But then… OPH began working its magic.

“After one person decided to take [the Quiz], I soon was lacking enough pens for everyone to take it at once!”

The results: “We now have enough people to become official as soon as we find a faculty advisor!”

Congratulations, Ocean.

OPH is a fantastic way to turn an ordinary, dull outreach table into a crowd-drawing fun event. From the very first time the Advocates introduced OPH, some 25 years ago, users have told us over and over again that OPH brings their outreach booth and tabling efforts alive.

OPH makes it easy and fun to discover libertarian-leaning individuals and sign up new members, supporters and activists. OPH utilizes the crowd-drawing and mind-opening power of the World’s Smallest Political Quiz and eye-catching graphics. OPH makes your booth the most active, the most talked about, the most fascinating, at any event. And it’s fun and easy to do — a great outreach event for newcomers and veteran activists alike.

As I mentioned, in the past few years the Advocates has given — completely free of charge — over 1,000 OPH booth kits to libertarian campus organizations across America. These kits have reached tens of thousands of students with the ideas of liberty, and they will continue to do so for years to come.

Student groups: Learn more about OPH — and how you can get your FREE OPH kit — if you haven’t already — here.

Non-student libertarian groups:Learn how to get an inexpensive, crowd-drawing OPH kit for your organization.

Spring is here! It’s the perfect time for libertarian groups — student and non-student alike — to use OPH to discover new libertarian-leaning folks and invite them to join our movement for liberty that is changing the world.

Spring is almost here! People will be out and about to enjoy the great weather. Springtime events will be everywhere: art fairs, political rallies, music festivals, gun shows, campus gatherings of different kinds, concerts, and many more…

This makes spring a fantastic time to take the ideas of liberty to your community or campus, discover new supporters and members for your libertarian organization — and HAVE FUN doing it.

How? With Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) — the Advocates’ acclaimed “event in a kit” that can help you discover dozens or even hundreds of libertarian-leaning people in your community.

Quite simply, OPH works like magic. Wherever people are gathered, OPH will attract them. OPH incorporates the mind-opening power of the World’s Smallest Political Quiz. OPH lets you quickly identify people who are libertarian or libertarian-leaning — and get their names and contact information.

OPH is one of the great success stories of the libertarian movement. Hundreds of thousands of people have encountered the ideas of liberty through OPH. And millions more people are out there, just waiting for someone — maybe you? — to introduce them to libertarianism and get them active for liberty.

And one of the most amazing things about OPH is that it’s… FUN!

Libertarian outreach — fun? You bet! Over and over again, OPH users tell us that:

“I’ve been doing OPH for several years. I have administered thousands of Quizzes, seen people with all manner of political views, been asked questions ranging from the insightful to the provocative to the absurd, and generally had fun. That’s right, I had fun.”

“I ended up staying four hours simply because it was so much fun!”

“It is fun. Usually we’ll have a couple of dozen people standing around the booth, a big crowd. Most of the time people just jump right into it.”

“The reaction to OPH was thrilling. People thronged our table… We got some awesome new recruits.”

“We used the OPH kit at the school’s club fair last week and recruited 55 new members.”

“OPH is a breakthrough tool. Anyone can do it — it’s so easy. It’s not only a great tool for attracting people, it’s also a great tool for keeping people involved.”

Think about the numbers, and consider the possibilities. A typical OPH event can easily find and sign up twenty or more — often many more — libertarian-friendly people.

How much stronger would the liberty movement be if hundreds of OPHs were conducted across America this spring — discovering thousands of eager new libertarian activists, supporters, donors and voters?

Imagine a thousand OPHs in operation this spring, averaging twenty new libertarian sign-ups.

How much would the liberty movement benefit from an infusion of 20,000 eager new libertarian activists?

How much would your libertarian group benefit from 10, 20, 40 or 50 new supporters, members and activists?

Somewhere near you, this week, there will be an event — a political rally, a county fair, a concert, a neighborhood party — that is PERFECT for OPH. Potential libertarians will be there, waiting to be discovered. Will OPH be there? It’s up to you.

Again, to learn more about OPH and see photos of OPH in action, visit here.

CPAC — the Conservative Political Action Committee — is the nation’s largest annual gathering of conservative activists and office holders. In recent years it has featured a strong and growing contingent of young libertarian activists among the attendees. This year’s CPAC was February 26-28 in Washington, DC.

As in past years the Advocates’ World’s Smallest Political Quiz and Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) were prominent at CPAC, too. Videos from the Washington Post and Reason TV briefly captured OPH in action — highlighting the visual appeal and the effectiveness of this legendary outreach tool.

Last year the Daily Beast reported that a booth by Generation Opportunity and Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) featuring the Quiz and OPH was “the one consistently drawing the biggest crowds.”

This year Libertarians were once again all over CPAC. One of the highlights of each CPAC is the presidential straw poll at each CPAC, widely viewed as a barometer of activist sentiment within the party. Libertarian-friendly Sen. Rand Paul won this year’s presidential poll — his third victory in a row — with 25.7 percent of the 3,007 total votes cast.

According to The Polling Company, 42 percent of the voters were students and a plurality of voters were between the ages of 18 and 25 — another sign of the strong and fast-growing libertarian sentiment among young GOP activists. (See this article on the growing generational split within the GOP on issues like marijuana re-legalization and marriage choice.)
The Libertarian Party was there, as was 2012 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson. A video from a panel discussion in which Johnson mocked Reefer Madness-style marijuana propaganda quickly spread around the Web. Students For Liberty (SFL) and Young Americans for Liberty were among other libertarian and liberty-minded organizations there.

In fact, libertarianism is getting so popular at CPAC that even people who plainly are not libertarians are trying to claim they are. Perhaps the most surreal moment of the entire conference was the startling proclamation by former NSA head, former CIA head, and current surveillance state and torture apologist Michael Hayden, who stunned a debate audience by declaring “I’m an unrelenting libertarian…” which had many in the audience laughing out loud in disbelief, and one person shouting loudly, “No you’re not!”

OPH: Campus Groups Get it FREE

Speaking of OPH and young activists… In the past few years the Advocates has given — completely free of charge — over 1,000 OPH booth kits to libertarian campus organizations across America. These kits have reached tens of thousands of students with the ideas of liberty, and they will continue to do so for years to come.

OPH is a fantastic way to turn an ordinary, dull outreach table into a crowd-drawing fun event! From the very first time the Advocates introduced OPH, some 25 years ago, users have told us over and over again that OPH brings their outreach booth and tabling efforts alive.

OPH makes it easy and fun to discover libertarian-leaning individuals and sign up new members and supporters — new libertarian activists who will work in college and after graduation to bring liberty to all Americans. OPH consistently makes a booth the most active, the most talked about, the most fascinating, at any event.

Last weekend in Washington D.C. you could see the future of liberty before your eyes. And, as the pictures here show, it’s a bright future indeed!

More than a thousand enthusiastic young libertarians from around the world poured into Washington for the 8th Annual International Students For Liberty Conference (ISFLC). They were there to network, hear and meet some of the world’s leading advocates of liberty, exchange ideas with fellow student libertarians, and have a great time. Total attendance (student and non-student) was a record-breaking 1700-plus.

The Advocates was delighted to welcome hundreds of these students at our busy booth, manned by a stellar Advocates team of Dagny Smith, Brett Bittner (left) and Kelsey Fritz (right).

If you’re a libertarian college student who didn’t attend or just didn’t get a chance to sign up for free outreach materials from the Advocates, do it now! Learn how your campus group can get a FREE OPH kit here, and learn how you can have an Advocates libertarian communication workshop on your campus here.

I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.

When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.

Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family.

My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation… and I could indeed have changed the world.

Changing the world: that’s what we, as libertarian activists, want to do. As the wise monk points out, changing the world must begin with… changing ourselves. And that’s a lifelong process. How do we do that? Here are a few suggestions and some resources for this lifelong journey:

Keep developing your understanding of libertarianism. What does liberty mean to you? Why are you a libertarian? Commit yourself to a joyful lifetime of learning. Read books, watch videos, talk with knowledgeable people. Periodically return to the basics. Be open to learning new arguments for liberty. Stay up to date: follow quality libertarian blogs, magazines, podcasts and new books. Be able to speak knowledgeably on libertarian solutions to current problems. David Bergland’s Libertarianism in One Lesson, published by the Advocates, is widely hailed as the best short introduction to libertarianism available. The Ludwig von Mises Institute has created one of the great online libertarian treasures: they’ve made hundreds of classic, essential libertarian books available online, for free.

Learn how to communicate the ideas of liberty effectively and persuasively. Here’s where the Advocates can be of great service to you! Successful libertarian communication has been a key part of our mission since our founding. Check out our online Liberty Store for books, CDs and DVDs on how to do this. Plus, every issue of the Liberator Online has new articles on the best ways to communicate libertarianism. If you want to learn to do public speaking for liberty, consider joining Toastmasters. And call 800-932-1776 or email us to learn how you can have a fun, engaging and enlightening Advocates libertarian communication workshop in your area.

Develop your personal skills. How you present yourself is critically important — and you’d be shocked at how often this crucial point is neglected. Be friendly. Dress appropriately. Listen respectfully to others. Be a good friend, family member, neighbor — people are far more likely to listen to your political ideas if they already like and respect you as a person.

Meet other liberty activists. Go to libertarian meetings. Join a campus or local libertarian group. Network with libertarians online. From these meetings may come the “family” in the monk’s story above that will help you change your community, your country… and the world.

Use proven tools. The world-famous World’s Smallest Political Quiz was developed by the Advocates to make explaining liberty easy and fun. Millions of people have encountered libertarianism through this single tool. Our OPH (Operation Politically Homeless) kit gives you the ability to find dozens or even hundreds of libertarians and liberty-friendly people wherever people are gathered.

When to begin your journey? I love this phrase, attributed to Anne Frank: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before beginning to improve the world.”

The 8th Annual International Students For Liberty Conference will be held in Washington, DC, Friday, February 13 through Sunday, February 15.

And it’s going to be an event to remember.

Students For Liberty describes the conference as “the premiere event of the year for students dedicated to liberty and advancing freedom on campus.” Last year’s conference featured over 1,200 attendees from 26 countries — and SFL expects this year’s to be bigger and better than ever before.

The Advocates will have a booth there, and we’re looking forward to meeting friends new and old and sharing Advocates tools and programs like Operation Politically Homeless (now FREE for campus groups) with students and other attendees.

The conference is opening with a bang — a Friday night conversation between Ron Paul and Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, moderated by Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv.

And that’s just the start. The conference has lined up a stellar list of speakers. Among them: John Stossel, Congressman Justin Amash, Cato’s David Boaz and Tom G. Palmer, Jeffrey Tucker of Liberty.me, Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks. Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, Libertarian Party executive director Wes Benedict, The Freeman editor Max Borders, the Marijuana Policy Project’s Rob Kampia… and that’s just a few of the outstanding speakers you’ll have a chance to hear. See the whole list of speakers here.

In addition to main-stage speakers, the weekend will feature over 80 breakout sessions on topics such as the militarization of police, the War on Drugs, free speech, and Bitcoin. The conference will also have an ongoing liberty fair with over 60 sponsor organizations. Plus there are networking opportunities with potential employers, and socials where you’ll have a great chance to meet with fellow lovers of liberty.

PS: You don’t have to be a student to attend. SFL says that, while the conference (as with other SFL programs) is focused on students, everyone is welcome to attend no matter what your age or status as a student might be.

What’s the fastest and easiest way to bring people into the libertarian movement?

“Help some of them see that they are already libertarians,” says Perry Willis, former Executive Director of the National Libertarian Party and current vice president of Downsize DC.

“Discovery before persuasion. Before you try to persuade NON-libertarians to become libertarians, first look for and talk with people who are already libertarians — or mostly libertarian.”

Such people are out there — by the tens of millions. Last year, a Freedomworks poll found that fully “78 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents self-identify as fiscally conservative and socially moderate.”

Further: “Told that libertarians generally believe individuals should be free to do as they like as long as they don’t hurt others and that the government should keep out of people’s day-to-day lives, 58 percent of the full national sample said they agree.”

Such people are obviously sympathetic to libertarian ideas — but millions of them don’t know about libertarianism. The Freedomworks poll found that about 40 percent of 18-to-32-year-olds view the word “libertarian” favorably — but about a third didn’t know what it meant.

They are waiting to hear about libertarianism. How do you quickly discover these libertarian-leaning people?

A great way is by using the Advocates’ World’s Smallest Political Quiz. Available as a pocket-sized card or in its famous online version, it’s the quickest and easiest way to identify someone’s political leanings. To do this in large groups, use OPH (Operation Politically Homeless), which incorporates the Quiz into a crowd-drawing fun booth that identifies and recruits new supporters.

Perry Willis’s “discovery before persuasion” rule focuses us on those who are most receptive and responsive to libertarianism.

People who are glad to hear about liberty. Who are delighted to learn that they aren’t the only ones who believe what they believe and want what they want: freedom.

Warning: Mr. Willis is NOT saying “discovery INSTEAD OF persuasion.” He is saying “FIRST discovery, THEN persuasion.”

“Discovery before persuasion” is easy, enjoyable, fast, and effective.

I was delighted to get this email from Michael Melendez, Young Americans for Liberty State Chair in Utah:

In one semester, I recruited more than 200 students on campuses all over the state of Utah.

There is no tool more effective for a campus liberty activist than the Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) kit.

I just ordered another OPH kit. Thank you!

Thank you, Michael!

I had the pleasure of meeting Michael at the November 2013 Utah Student Liberty Forum, where I conducted a libertarian communication workshop. Currently a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), Michael has been active locally with Campaign for Liberty since 2009. He was chief-of-staff for Senator Howard Stephenson in the Utah State Senate during the 2014 legislative session. Michael founded a Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) chapter at BYU in 2011 and was made a YAL chair for the state of Utah in January of 2013. He also served as a Campus Coordinator for Students For Liberty (SFL) during the 2013-2014 school year. Whew!

Michael is a great example of the new generation of libertarian activists who are making liberty once again a burning issue in American politics.

And — as his quote indicates — he’s using the Advocates’ OPH to find hundreds more young people to join in this great crusade.

OPH is the Advocates’ acclaimed “event in a kit” that enables libertarian groups to quickly and efficiently discover dozens or even hundreds of libertarian-leaning people in their communities or on their campuses — and get their contact information and sign them up!

OPH is one of the great success stories of the libertarian movement. Hundreds of thousands of people have encountered the ideas of liberty through OPH. And millions more people are out there, just waiting for someone — maybe you? — to introduce them to libertarianism.

OPH works like magic. Wherever people are gathered, OPH will attract them. It turns an ordinary (yawn) ho-hum outreach booth into a crowd-drawing fun event! Bonus: it’s fun!

FREE OPH KITS for libertarian student groups: The Advocates is giving OPH outreach kits free to student libertarian groups. All we ask is that you use them at least three times during the next year and send us photos documenting your OPH activity. OPH normally sells for $50.00 plus shipping. Learn how campus libertarian groups are doubling and tripling their membership with OPH here.

Right now is a great time to do OPH! As students return to school, as freshman begin exploring ideas and organizations on campus, use OPH to open their minds to liberty and welcome them to your campus liberty organization.

Could your libertarian group benefit from dozens — or even hundreds — of new sign-ups? How much stronger would the liberty movement be if hundreds of OPHs were conducted across America this year — discovering thousands of eager new libertarian activists, supporters, donors and voters?

Passive waiting is NOT a strategy. Nor even a good choice — if you want freedom in our lifetime.

You have to send out ships — if you want our ship to come in.

Do you know where the phrase “waiting for my ship to come in” came from?

In the 19th Century, English investors and entrepreneurs built huge sailing ships. It took months to build them, months to stock them with trading goods and provisions, and months to hire a good captain and crew.

Then these ships were launched to seek out foreign producers and traders. To exchange English goods for gold and silver and jewels, for silk and spices and other precious things.

Some of the ships hit reefs and sank. Others were destroyed by storms. Some were seized by pirates. Others mutinied — and went to Australia.

There were no shortwave radios. No telegraphs. No cell phones. No way to communicate with the ships until they returned to England.

“Waiting for my ship to come in” was coined by those who sent their ships out.

How many ships have you sent out? How many have you helped make ready to launch?

For our libertarian ships to come in, we must first send out many more seaworthy ships.

Have you acquired an Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) libertarian outreach kit for your local libertarian organization? OPH is a proven, tested way to discover new libertarian-leaning people and bring them into the liberty movement. That’s one ship sent out.

If you’re a student, the Advocates is giving OPH kits FREE to any campus libertarian organization that agrees to use them a minimum of three times in the coming year. Have you requested one for your campus group? That’s a second ship sent out.

Have you volunteered to work at an OPH booth? That’s a third ship sent out. (AND the most fun you can have with your clothes on.)

Have you forwarded thought-provoking articles from the Liberator Online to interested friends? That’s a fourth ship launched.

Have you bought an Advocates book or product — say, Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion — for libertarian friends and acquaintances? For their birthdays? Or just because? That’s a fifth ship. (And a handbook on “shipbuilding” for liberty.)

Work for liberty! Send out more and more ships. And you will stand a much better chance that YOUR libertarian ship will come in — and that you will have liberty in our lifetime.

Guess which booth at this year’s widely-covered CPAC drew the biggest, mostexcited crowds?

(CPAC — the Conservative Political Action Committee — is the nation’s largest annual gathering of conservative activists and office holders, with a strong number of libertarian students among the attendees.)

Here’s what The Daily Beast — one of the most influential news sites on the web, read by millions of readers each month – reported:

“Of all the booths, the one consistently drawing the biggest crowds was WarOnYouth, a joint project by Generation Opportunity and Young Americans for Liberty (YAL)…

“As a clever gimmick, YAL was having passers-by fill out a quickie quiz to determine where they fell on an ideological quadrant that included not just a left/right divide, but also a libertarian/statist one.

“According to the results chart, the vast majority of respondents fell into the libertarian range, represented by — surprise! — Ron and Rand Paul.”

Yes, that’s Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) and the World’s Smallest Political Quiz working their magic on the CPAC crowd!

Once again the incredible effectiveness of the Advocates’ Operation Politically Homeless booth was demonstrated. Once again OPH has been used to reach the minds of the political leaders, activists and donors of tomorrow.

OPH consistently makes a booth the most active, the most talked about, the most fascinating, at any event. OPH consistently draws the biggest crowds, the greatest attention. It is fun and fascinating — for boothers and attendees alike.

And OPH opens minds and changes lives.

I strongly believe OPH, and the World’s Smallest Political Quiz that is the heart of OPH, has played a major role in opening up America’s political landscape to include libertarians.

Prior to the introduction of the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, most Americans thought of politics using a simplistic model of left versus right — which excludes libertarians.

But for over 25 years the Quiz has opened tens of millions of minds to a better political map — one that includes libertarians.

The CPAC OPH booth is just the latest example of the crowd-drawing, mind-opening power of this remarkable tool.

Ron Paul observed the power of the Quiz and OPH many years ago, and put it very well: “The World’s Smallest Political Quiz is responsible for many Americans’ first contact with libertarian ideas. While traveling around the country, I have often heard people say, ‘I never knew I was a libertarian until I took the Quiz!’”

Over 1,000 OPH Kits Delivered FREE to Campus Libertarian Groups

More good news: I am pleased to announce a new OPH milestone.

In the past few years the Advocates has given — completely free of charge — over 1,000 OPH booths to libertarian campus organizations across America.

These kits have reached tens of thousands of students with the ideas of liberty, and they will continue to do so for years. (Student groups: learn more about OPH — and how you can get your FREE OPH kit if you haven’t already — here.)

These OPH kits are being used by libertarian campus groups to discover libertarian-leaning students and welcome them to the liberty movement. Libertarian campus organizations are using OPH to sign up new members and supporters — new libertarian activists who will work in college and after graduation to bring liberty to all America.

Regular readers will remember we celebrated the 20-million milestone just a few months ago, in late October. So we’re delighted that in the four months since then, the Quiz has been taken an additional million times, reaching so many more people with the mind-changing idea of a new political map — one that includes libertarianism!

The Quiz has become an Internet legend — the world’s first, and by far most popular, Internet political quiz.

And the numbers don’t stop there. We’ve distributed over 12 million Quiz cards. Millions more people have encountered the Quiz in classrooms, major textbooks, newspapers, books, on talk radio, at Facebook, at Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) booths, and elsewhere.

This is fantastic news for libertarians. Because the Quiz is arguably the most effective tool for libertarian understanding and outreach ever invented.

When people take the Quiz:

* They learn that libertarianism is a major part of the American political spectrum — that there is more to politics than just left versus right.

* They get insights into their own political views, and they think about some of today’s most important — but often ignored — political issues.

* They learn that, on many key issues, libertarians are their allies, even if they consider themselves liberals or conservatives or centrists.

* A large percentage of Quiz takers discover they are libertarians, or have more in common with libertarianism than any other political philosophy.

* At our website, Quiz takers are given instant access to outstanding information about libertarian ideas. Their questions are answered. They are given the opportunity to become active in the libertarian movement. And they are offered tools and training to help them become ever more effective and successful in their libertarian outreach.

Please note: the amazing success of the Quiz is no accident. The Advocates has spent many years developing, refining and promoting the Quiz.

The World’s Smallest Political Quiz was created by Advocates Founder Marshall Fritz in 1987. It was built on a revolutionary multi-spectrum political chart created in 1970 by David F. Nolan (a co-founder of the Libertarian Party). Fritz added ten short questions and a graph to Nolan’s chart. The questions and graph allowed people to quickly plot their place on the political spectrum, as well as giving other political insights.

From the beginning, Marshall insisted that the Quiz be not just fast and fun, but above all honest and accurate — giving reliable and useful insights to those who take it.

The result is a tool so effective and mind-opening that non-libertarian educators, journalists and others can — and do — use it and recommend it.

During the past decade, the Quiz has been featured in many of America’s best selling college and high school textbooks or their supplementary material, including more than a dozen key textbooks by the biggest names in publishing. And we’ve supplied educators, at their request, with tens of thousands of card Quizzes for their classrooms. (Are you a teacher, professor, or other education professional? Email me for information on free Quizzes for your students, or fill out the request form at the bottom of this page.)

This is tangible, real-world outreach success. And it is making a real difference.

As Ron Paul has said: “The World’s Smallest Political Quiz is responsible for many Americans’ first contact with libertarian ideas. While traveling around the country, I have often heard people say, ‘I never knew I was a libertarian until I took the Quiz!’”

The success of the Quiz is great news for the entire liberty movement. We’re finding and educating the libertarian leaders, activists and supporters of tomorrow!

NONE of this success would have been possible without the help of the many wonderful people who support the work of the Advocates with their generous donations.

If you would like to join them by becoming an Advocates donor, we have some fantastic “thank you” gifts for you. Check them out here. Or call us toll-free at (800) 983-1776.

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: “It might have been!”

– John Greenleaf Whittier

Near the end of your life, you may have a chance to look back – and see what might have been. For your personal life. And for your libertarian life.

You will probably regret a number of things you did — or failed to do. And wish you’d have made a different choice — a better one.

Looking back, what regrets might you have about your current libertarian choices and actions?

Will you regret participating in the libertarian movement — or wish you had been more involved?

Will you regret spending an afternoon working at an Operation Politically Homeless booth — or sadly wish you had spent a day or two or three sharing the World’s Smallest Political Quiz?

Will you regret reading Libertarianism in One Lesson, Healing Our World and a half dozen other libertarian classics — or will you wish you’d shared these books with curious high school or college students?

Will you rue the day you donated $20 or $50 or $80 to the Advocates to help reach out to college students with our libertarian ideas and insights — or will you sadly wish you have given more… so the Advocates could do more?

Will you feel bitterness and anger over the time and money you spent attending an Advocates communication seminar — or will you wish you could relive the experience?

You don’t have to wait until it’s too late. You don’t have to wait until regret and sad might-have-beens fill your heart.

Simply take five minutes alone — and imagine that you’re ninety and near the end of your life. Look at this day, this year through those eyes. Look at your libertarian choices and actions.

Then make the libertarian choice you will NOT regret. The libertarian choice that will delight and please you today. The one that you’ll look back on with a smile — or tears of joy.

As you take these actions, you’ll be growing the libertarian movement — and advancing the cause of freedom.

And if enough of us do this today, tomorrow, this year and next… you may reach the last days of your life in a libertarian America. And you will be glad for the libertarian progress.

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment to improve the world.” — Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl, 1952.

I love that quote. I believe it has a powerful message for those of us who want to make our world a freer place.

It’s easy to feel that you must be wealthy, brilliant, part of a huge organization or team, or a cog in someone else’s master plan before you can take a meaningful action for liberty.

It’s easy to think that, sometime in the future, you’ll be able to do something significant for freedom — after you’ve stashed away a lot more money, or learned more about the intricacies of libertarian thought, or read a stack of books on economics, or listened to that album of outreach CDs, or cleared up enough time to run for office… someday,
sometime, eventually…

But the truth is, you don’t have to wait a single moment.

Right now, you are already doing something to, as Anne Frank says, “improve the world” just by your commitment to read the Liberator Online — a publication designed to, among other things, help you become a highly successful communicator of the ideas of liberty.

When you’re finished reading, you can immediately begin to “improve the world” — in dozens of different ways.

You can (to name just a very few possibilities):

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper supporting a libertarian cause — and by doing so, take our ideas to thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of readers.

Call your local libertarian organization and offer to support a worthy project or candidate, help with office chores, or work at an Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) outreach booth. See if they have something that needs to be done that fits your talents, finances and time.

Pick out several people you think are good prospects to accept libertarian ideas. Think about how you can effectively and persuasively answer whatever concerns may be keeping them from fully embracing libertarianism. (It could be they’re ready — just waiting to be asked.)

Make sure you have some good libertarian outreach literature with you at all times. (Naturally, I’m partial to our pocket-sized World’s Smallest Political Quiz.)

Wear a button or a pro-liberty T-shirt. Put a bumper sticker on your car. And, again, carry good outreach literature with you for the questions you’ll be asked. (Maybe a stack of Quiz cards in your glove compartment?)

Call, write, email or fax your local, state and national elected officials. Urge them to stand up for our precious Bill of Rights during this time of civil liberties crisis. Or tell them to take a pro-freedom vote on upcoming legislation you’re concerned about. The League of Women Voters has a site that makes it easy to find and contact your national, state and local politicians.

Make a contribution to a libertarian organization that is doing work you find useful and important. (Again, I’m partial here!)

That’s just a few of hundreds of possibilities — simple but vital things you can do right now that will definitely make a difference in the world. (And again, note they all involve effective communication and outreach — the specialty of the Advocates.)

Too insignificant? Hardly! Your newspaper letter will reach a huge audience, opening minds and exposing many to libertarian, perhaps for the first time. Your OPH booth could greatly increase the size of your local libertarian organization and recruit tomorrow’s libertarian leaders and activists. A single Quiz you pass out at your workplace or in your classroom may change someone’s life forever (it’s happened many times). The discussion about liberty you have with your nephew or friend or fellow student or co-worker may just bring a new libertarian into the world — and every new libertarian means we’re that much closer to a free world.

You can probably think of lots of other things you can do. Take a moment and think of one simple activity you can easily do right now — the possibilities are enormous.

And remember, you can start immediately — you don’t need any more preparation time, and you don’t need anyone’s permission!

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment to improve the world.”

What are you waiting for?

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